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1 [1] (May 23, 2019)

handle is hein.crs/govzvg0001 and id is 1 raw text is: 1 Congressional Research Service Infro rmig the egvlative debate since 1914 0 May 23, 2019 2018 Farm Bill Primer: Rural Development Programs Title VI of the enacted 2018 farm bill (Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, P.L. 115-334) includes provisions that address rural and regional development issues. While other legislation has significant implications for rural areas and rural residents (e.g., transportation initiatives, environmental regulation, finance and taxation, Medicare, Social Security), Congress has used periodic omnibus farm bills to address emerging rural issues as well as to reauthorize a wide range of rural programs administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) rural development mission agencies: Rural Utilities Service, Rural Business-Cooperative Service, and Rural Housing Service. Although the extent of overlap between federal agencies and programs targeting rural areas has been of concern to some rural policy observers, USDA Rural Development has primary federal statutory responsibility for rural development and has the largest number of programs providing assistance to rural areas. The Rural Development title of the 2018 farm bill (Title VI) provides assistance for rural business creation and expansion and for rural infrastructure along with traditional assistance for housing, electrical generation and transmission, broadband, water and wastewater, and economic and institutional capacity in local communities. In previous farm bills, Congress has also supported innovative and alternative business development (e.g., bioenergy, value-added production, local food production) and innovative mechanisms to finance it (e.g., the Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance Program). The 2018 farm bill amends and reauthorizes a wide variety of existing rural business programs, rural infrastructure development, housing and community facilities and authorizes several new initiatives. What Is Rural? The 2002 farm bill (P.L. 107-171, Section 6020) amended the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act of 1972 (the ConAct; 7 U.S.C. § 1926 et seq.) to define rural and rural area as any area other than a city or town with a population of more than 50,000 and the urbanized area contiguous and adjacent to such a city or town. Eligibility for some programs have statutory population limits much less than 50,000 (e.g., Water and Waste Water loans and grants-10,000; Community Facilities-20,000). In awarding loans and grants, regulations may also prioritize rural areas with even smaller populations and/or household income limits. The 2018 farm bill amends this definition of rural to exclude from population thresholds individuals incarcerated on a long-term or regional basis. The enacted bill also amends the definition to exclude the first 1,500 individuals residing in on-base military housing. The enacted bill further amends the Housing Act of 1949 to permit any area defined as rural between 1990 and 2020 to remain so classified until publication of the 2030 decennial census. New Rural Development Provisions The 2018 farm bill generally reauthorizes or amends long- standing programs under the ConAct and the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 (7 U.S.C. §901 et seq.). New programs are also authorized under these statutes. Rural Access to High-Speed Broadband * The bill authorizes a new grant program for rural broadband deployment in addition to loans and loan guarantees. Increases broadband minimum speed to 25 megabits per second (Mbps) downstream and 3 Mbps upstream speed. Establishes buildout requirements and makes rural areas with an incorporated city of 20,000 or more eligible for direct broadband loans and grants (§6201). * Other broadband provisions provide incentives to bring broadband service to hard-to-reach areas by establishing a method for calculating service points per road mile as a density measure (§6201). * Prioritizes broadband loans and grants to unserved rural areas with no residential broadband service, rural communities with fewer than 10,000 permanent residents, rural communities experiencing outmigration that have developed a strategic community investment plan, communities with high percentage of low-income families, and applications that provide the maximum level of broadband service to the greatest proportion of rural households in a proposed service area (§6201). * Increases annual appropriated funding for broadband deployment from $25 million in FY2019 to $350 million in FY2023 (§6201). The bill also reauthorizes the Rural Gigabit Network Pilot Program-and renames it the Innovative Broadband Advancement Program (§6203)-establishes a Rural Broadband Integration Working Group (§6214), and creates a Task Force for Reviewing the Connectivity and Technology Needs of Precision Agriculture (§ 12516). The enacted bill also authorizes a new Middle Mile Infrastructure Program (§6201), with authorized appropriations of $10 million annually (FY2019-2023), to construct, improve, or acquire infrastructure connecting rural Internet service provider networks with broadband Internet backbone networks (§6202). https:!crsreports cong --ssqg

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